Introduction

Biography

Charles was the son of Ly­man Beech­er and Rox­ana Ward Foote, bro­ther of Har­ri­et Beech­er Stowe and Hen­ry Ward Beech­er, and hus­band of Sa­rah Le­land Cof­fin (mar­ried 1840).

He at­tend­ed the Bos­ton La­tin School and the Law­rence Aca­de­my, Gro­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

Graduating from Bow­doin Col­lege in 1835, he en­rolled at Lane Sem­in­ary, Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio. Af­ter­ward, he taught mu­sic in Cin­cin­na­ti, and re­ceived a preach­ing li­cense from the Pres­by­te­ry of In­di­an­apo­lis, In­di­ana.

He served as pa­stor of the Se­cond Pres­by­ter­ian Church, Fort Wayne, In­di­ana (1844); First Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church, New­ark, New Jer­sey (1851); and the First Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church, George­town, Mas­sa­chu­setts (1857).

He was the Flo­ri­da state su­per­in­ten­dent of pub­lic in­struc­tion for two years (be­tween 1870 and 1877); and act­ing pas­tor in Wy­sox, Penn­syl­van­ia (1885–93).

Charles was al­so one of the mu­sic ed­it­ors for his bro­ther Hen­ry’s 1855 Ply­mouth Col­lect­ion.

Publications

• The Du­ty of Dis­obe­di­ence to Wick­ed Laws (New York, J. A. Gray, 1851)
• Autobiography, Cor­res­pon­dence, etc. of Ly­man Beech­er (Lon­don: S. Low, Son and Mars­ton, 1863)